Hungary – Free Practice 2: Vettel confirms, Grosjean asserts himself

The heat became even more present during this second session, and there is talk of breaking the track temperature record during a Grand Prix that was approaching sixty degrees.

At the start of the session, the drivers all head out for a few quick laps to confirm some setup choices like Jenson Button. And some drivers point out certain issues with their cars like Lewis Hamilton, who is more than a second off the fastest time after fifteen minutes. Many mechanics are also at work in the pits to improve some decisions for the different drivers.

After thirty minutes, Sebastian Vettel is the first of the leading drivers to set a time on soft tires, improving by 1.2 seconds on the previous best time, which he also set. The first two sectors showed strong progress, which somewhat collapsed during the final sector, indicating that the tires quickly suffer on a lap in this heat. He is quickly joined by his teammate and some other drivers who also improve their times by about 1 second. The gap between the performance of the two types of tires is significant, but the wear on the soft ones seems very pronounced. Felipe Massa takes advantage after a few minutes to position himself between the Red Bull and Mercedes drivers. However, the Brazilian is eventually overtaken by his teammate for third place, while Jenson Button ranks 7th.

At mid-session, the track continues to improve as the session progresses, allowing drivers attempting a fast lap to benefit from a bit more grip. Both Lotus drivers take advantage of this to attack, with Romain Grosjean climbing to third place, while Kimi Räikkönen is hindered in his second attempt by Jenson Button. The Finn still attempts an unsuccessful overtake on the Englishman in the final corner, as the McLaren driver hadn’t seen the Lotus driver due to the difference in pace between a qualifying lap and a long stint lap. The latter subsequently records the eighth-fastest time.

Thirty minutes before the end of the session, the vast majority of drivers are on long stints. They are all studying the track’s evolution with the passage of the cars, or the degradation of the different tire compounds in quite extreme weather conditions, with intense heat putting both the tires and the drivers to the test.

It is therefore Sebastian Vettel who concludes the day with the fastest time in the second free practice session, confirming the good form of the Red Bull team. Romain Grosjean is lurking behind the two Red Bull drivers, just ahead of the Ferraris.

Results of Free Practice 2 of the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix